Blueberry Group, through Sabca and Sabena Aerospace, which represents Belgium’s leading sustainable aerospace ecosystem, and Lockheed Martin, the leading US and global defense and security company, will join efforts alongside the Moroccan government to create a joint- Moroccan venture.
It will give new international impetus to Belgian and American companies and should support Morocco’s defense needs, especially for the Royal Moroccan Air Force, the FRA, according to the Far-Morocco forum, which quotes a press release from Blueberry Group.
Maintenance Aero Maroc (MAM), will operate the state-of-the-art maintenance center for military aircraft, which will open in Benslimane and is expected to create 300 technical and high-tech jobs.
In a press release, the CEO of Blueberry group, Stéphane Burton, said he was “extremely proud to start this new partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco and Lockheed Martin”.
This partnership between the three will make it possible to offer “high quality sustainment services for the Moroccan Air Force, and then quickly to other customers in the region. We are very happy to see MAM joining our international network of maintenance solutions, offering opportunities to develop new expertise on other platforms,” he added.
“Our Group has 50 years of experience in the maintenance, repair and modernization of aircraft such as the C-130 and the F-16,” said the CEO of the Belgian Blueberry Group.
This partnership, signed in the presence of Abdellatif Loudiyi, Minister Delegate to the Head of the Moroccan Government in charge of National Defense Administration, represents the first achievement following the law which allows Morocco to develop a military-industrial activity and to defense and to derive strategic and economic advantages from it.
The project involves the construction of a 15,000 m² state-of-the-art maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade center for military aircraft and helicopters at Benslimane airport.
It should be noted that the Blueberry Group has been present in Morocco since 2012 through its subsidiary Sabca Maroc, which recently announced its investment of more than 180 million Moroccan dirhams (17 million euros) in the construction of a new factory of 16,000 m² which will house the assembly line for Pilatus, Airbus and Dassault aerostructures. in the Nouaceur region.